When animals don’t get well

I am always excited when the animals I work on show big improvement. But sometimes they don’t improve or they may even die. Fortunately that is uncommon, but whenever it does happen I stand back and consider WHY. 

When I ask for healing for an animal I request it for their highest good. Sometimes getting better isn’t in the stars. Sometimes the illness serves a bigger purpose that needs attention brought to it. Sometimes it is simply time for the animal to die. Sometimes the animal needs to move on for something else to move in.

Years ago my beloved mare Libby died. I’d had her for 15 years. I had no intention of getting another horse right away, my heart was still bleeding. The Universe had other ideas, and within a few days a number of people began pointing me toward a young race horse about to be retired from racing. I had no interest at first but the angels were apparently conspiring and one month later Sammy was mine. To my surprise, when I read his pedigree, I learned he was closely related to my sweet Libby - he was her great nephew! The night that Libby died was the same evening that Sammy’s owner decided to retire and rehome him. Did Sammy come into my life to fill a void left by Libby, or perhaps did Libby bow out when Sammy was in need of a loving home and to share my next adventures?

Espresso (“The Horse With a Bug Bite”) passed on when Susan was, unbeknownst to her, also dying. I knew Susan very well, and well enough to understand that to leave her horse behind would have been heart wrenching for her. Espresso needed to blaze the trail for Susan to follow. 

Sometimes an animal dies so that their owner can experience the growth that comes with deep loss. No one remains unchanged by the loss of a dear friend, whether two or four legged. Sometimes those final moments, hours or days are blessed with a bittersweet beauty that no one asks for but nevertheless molds them into a richer individual.

And what about animals that just don’t get better? There can be another, more important agenda in the works. A dear friend of mine who is a professional Animal Communicator asked me to help with her mare’s nasal tumor. I worked hard on that one and it just didn’t budge. Nicole ended up taking her to the University Animal Hospital where she remained as a patient for a few weeks. During that time both Nicole and her mare had an unparalleled opportunity to demonstrate to the vets and vet students the importance of communicating with their patients to get maximum cooperation. This was an important education that those individuals would not have otherwise received. 

Sometimes probing into an animal’s weakness reveals a deeper sorrow with the owner. While I can’t say this is a common finding for me, I have experienced seeing a deep emotional healing coming about through exploration of the owner/animal relationship as I worked to heal the pet.

Sometimes a horse that can’t be ridden develops a deeper relationship with the owner through other means. Sometimes another facet of the relationship develops as one fades into the background. And anyone who has given care to a hospice animal can understand the very precious relationship that grows from that. 

And with one “patient” who achieved remarkable but not 100% success the answer to my WHY question came to me: “This is just his path.”